Review by Booklist Review
On July 29, 1714, in a small village in France, a young woman named Adeline prays to any god who will answer for salvation from a stifling life. But the one who arrives grants Addie a gift, in exchange for her soul, that comes with a curse: though she will not age or die, everyone she meets will forget her as soon as she leaves their sight. For 300 years, Addie moves through the world without touching it, balancing ephemeral but immense suffering against the joy of witnessing, and often underhandedly influencing, art and artists. As the devil she bargained with lingers in the shadows, Addie makes herself his equal, laying claim to her strange life. And then, one day in 2014 Manhattan, she finds a boy who, impossibly, remembers her. Schwab deftly weaves time and place, flitting between Addie's frantic past and her grounded present while visiting intermittent July 29ths in between. Narratively, this is a whirlwind--deeply romantic, impossibly detailed, filled with lush language, wry humor, and bitter memories. This often startlingly raw story begs the questions: what is a soul? What does it mean to be remembered? And what prize is worth giving those things up?HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Schwab's acclaimed Shades of Magic series is a perennial bestseller, and this masterfully cultivated genre-blended standalone is her most ambitious venture yet.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Schwab (the Shades of Magic series) crafts the tale of one woman's desperate drive to be remembered into a triumphant exploration of love and loss. The story hops across time as it follows the life of Adeline "Addie" LaRue from the French country side in the early 1700s to New York City in 2014. As a young woman, Addie makes a deal with the devil to save herself from the tedium of an arranged marriage, asking for "a chance to live and be free." The devil grants her immortality but curses her to a life of horrible isolation: no one she meets will be able to remember her. The first half of the book----as Addie learns the limits and loneliness of her curse----is as devastating as it is prescient in these self-isolating times. Which makes Addie's eventual meeting with Henry, the first person to remember her in some 300 years, all the more joyous. This sweeping fantasy is as much a love story as it is a tribute to storytelling, art, and inspiration. Schwab's diverse cast is beautifully rendered, and the view of human connection on offer is biting and bitter, yet introspective and sweet. This ambitious and hopeful work is a knockout. Agent: Holly Root, Root Literary. (Oct.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
The latest novel by Schwab centers on the Faustian bargain a desperate Addie LaRue makes to avoid an arranged marriage. But in "praying to the Gods that answer after dark," Addie swaps dreary 18th-century domestic life in a French country village for an eternity of a different kind of isolation: She is cursed to be instantly forgotten by everyone she meets. A lonely Addie travels the world, sometimes forcibly moved by Luc, the literally handsome devil to whom she now owes her soul. She must survive by stealing and hiding because she is unable to establish any personal or business relationships: People simply forget her as soon as she leaves their sight. However, as she nears the 300th anniversary of her bargain, she may have discovered a loophole in the curse--when she comes back to his New York City bookstore, Henry remembers Addie stole a book from the shop the day before. From that moment on, the story unfolds from both Addie's and Henry's points of view, a switch that narrator Julia Whelan handles with grace. Whelan's steady pacing allows listeners to savor Schwab's prose while navigating the twists and turns of this well-crafted exploration of the human condition. VERDICT Recommend to those who appreciate atmospheric, character-driven dramas.--Beth Farrell, Cleveland State Univ. Law Lib.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
When you deal with the darkness, everything has a price. "Never pray to the gods that answer after dark." Adeline tried to heed this warning, but she was desperate to escape a wedding she didn't want and a life spent trapped in a small town. So desperate that she didn't notice the sun going down. And so she made a deal: For freedom, and time, she will surrender her soul when she no longer wants to live. But freedom came at a cost. Adeline didn't want to belong to anyone; now she is forgotten every time she slips out of sight. She has spent 300 years living like a ghost, unable even to speak her own name. She has affairs with both men and women, but she can never have a comfortable intimacy built over time--only the giddy rush of a first meeting, over and over again. So when she meets a boy who, impossibly, remembers her, she can't walk away. What Addie doesn't know is why Henry is the first person in 300 years who can remember her. Or why Henry finds her as compelling as she finds him. And, of course, she doesn't know how the devil she made a deal with will react if he learns that the rules of their 300-year-long game have changed. This spellbinding story unspools in multiple timelines as Addie moves through history, learning the rules of her curse and the whims of her captor. Meanwhile, both Addie and the reader get to know Henry and understand what sets him apart. This is the kind of book you stay up all night reading--rich and satisfying and strange and impeccably crafted. Spanning centuries and continents, this is a darkly romantic and suspenseful tale by a writer at the top of her game. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
